After walking for an unknown duration, the two began to descend stone steps. About seven or eight minutes later, Ning Beichen followed the passage into a place resembling an underground secret chamber.
A putrid odor wafted into their nostrils. Chen Mingyue’s face turned ashen, and she quickly pulled out a mask and put it on.
Ning Beichen, however, seemed unaffected. But after pushing open several doors, his expression also turned grim as he said,
“This appears to be an underground prison, likely used in the past for incarcerating and interrogating criminals.”
“How unlucky.”
Chen Mingyue had initially thought they had discovered a remarkable secret chamber filled with countless treasures, only to find a dungeon.
“Let’s take a look around first. I sense this place is not as simple as it seems.”
As a Grandmaster, Ning Beichen could faintly feel a terrifying power emanating from this location.
After some exploration, Ning Beichen located the source of this fearsome power.
When he forcefully pushed open a thick door, a force that made Ning Beichen’s heart pound surged out from behind it. Ning Beichen, caught off guard, was directly blasted backward by this formidable power.
With a muffled thud.
Ning Beichen felt a sweetness in his throat and couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of blood.
“Ning Beichen!”
Seeing Ning Beichen thrown back, Chen Mingyue’s first reaction was to rush towards him.
“Don’t come here, retreat.”
Ning Beichen immediately shouted, stopping her.
This power was more than even he, a Grandmaster, could withstand. Chen Mingyue would only be walking into her death if she approached.
Chen Mingyue retreated, asking with great concern,
“Ning Beichen, are you alright? I saw you spit blood.”
“I’m fine, don’t worry about me. This place is quite strange, stay back for now.”
Ning Beichen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and said to Chen Mingyue.
“Alright, be careful. If it’s too much, let’s prioritize our safety.”
Chen Mingyue said anxiously.
She knew how powerful Ning Beichen was. For even he to be injured and bleeding, without even seeing an enemy, showed how dangerous and eerie this place truly was.
Ning Beichen got up from the ground, prepared himself, and continued towards the door.
This time, however, no force confronted him, and he was not attacked again, allowing him to enter the room smoothly.
Although it was called a room, it was essentially a solitary cell, sealed and without any windows.
Upon entering, Ning Beichen still felt some discomfort, but he persevered.
Skeletal remains!
Ning Beichen surprisingly found a complete human skeleton in the cell.
A bronze ancient sword was inserted directly above the skull of the skeleton, and its limbs were bound by four chains. These chains were inscribed with numerous ancient characters, likely some form of incantation.
Ning Beichen’s breath hitched at the sight.
What kind of person was the owner of these remains in life, to have suffered such brutal torture?
Especially the bronze sword on the skull, inserted halfway into the skull and reaching to the position of the skeleton’s heart.
Ning Beichen surmised that either the skeleton’s owner was tortured in life, or the owner was too powerful and needed to be subdued in this manner.
Ning Beichen cautiously approached the skeleton and examined it closely. He determined from the skeleton’s shape that it was male.
Furthermore, Ning Beichen deduced from certain features of the skeleton that its age was between twenty and thirty years, meaning the individual was a young man in life.
However, this was only under normal circumstances. If the person was a cultivator in life, their bone age might not be accurate.
Ning Beichen was not particularly interested in the skeleton itself, but rather the bronze ancient sword on its skull.
This bronze sword, capable of killing the person, must be extraordinary.
Ning Beichen approached the skeleton and boldly reached out to pull the bronze ancient sword from its skull.
However, as Ning Beichen’s hand touched the hilt of the bronze sword, his head suddenly ached, as if something was trying to burrow into his mind. Startled, Ning Beichen hastily withdrew his hand.
Yet, the sensation of something trying to penetrate his head did not disappear. Ning Beichen, without time to think, quickly sat down cross-legged and silently recited the Diamond Sutra.
He recited not the mundane version of the Diamond Sutra common today, but the genuine version treasured by Buddhist monasteries.
“Prajna Paramita…”
As Ning Beichen recited the Diamond Sutra, his internal energy circulated through the Conception and Governing vessels, traversing the Lesser and Greater Heavenly Circuits. A faint red glow appeared on Ning Beichen.
While reciting the sutra, Ning Beichen seemed to hear a roar of unwillingness, and then the pain in his head subsided, as if the ominous presence trying to invade his mind had retreated.
However, for safety’s sake, Ning Beichen did not stop reciting the Diamond Sutra until he had repeated it three times.
Whether it was the reinforcement of the Diamond Sutra or the expulsion of the malevolent presence, Ning Beichen felt a sense of peace in this place.
The sensation of something trying to burrow into his head did not reappear.
“Could that situation just now have been the legendary soul-snatching?”
Ning Beichen mused inwardly, a shiver running down his spine.
Such demonic practices as soul-snatching were only found in ancient legends; in modern times, no one would believe such a thing could happen.
But if it wasn’t soul-snatching, then what was it?
Ning Beichen cautiously observed his surroundings, circulating his internal energy through the Greater Heavenly Circuit, and prepared to recite the Diamond Sutra at any moment. He then swiftly grabbed the hilt of the bronze sword.
After waiting for a while, and with nothing trying to invade his head, Ning Beichen finally pulled the bronze sword free.
As the bronze sword was drawn from the skeleton, before Ning Beichen could examine it closely, the skeleton before his eyes began to melt away like ice and snow.
With a ding.
After the skeleton melted, a silver bead dropped to the ground. Ning Beichen picked up the bead with great curiosity.
“Strange, was this bead embedded within the skeleton?”
Ning Beichen had examined the skeleton carefully earlier, but he hadn’t seen any bead. Yet, when he pulled out the bronze sword, the skeleton melted like ice and snow, and a bead emerged.
“Damn, could this be a gallstone?”
“No, that can’t be right. Would a gallstone be this large? Could it be a sarira?”
“Sarira doesn’t seem right either. I’ve seen sarira, and this is just a silver bead.”
Ning Beichen pondered, unable to figure out what it was. However, since it had fallen from the skeleton, it was unlikely to be an ordinary object.
“Could it be… a pill?”
“No!”
“Wait, liquefied into a pill, hidden within the limbs and bones, forming a rainbow bridge with heaven and earth, crossing calamities and embarking on a boat, leading to the other shore… I think I’ve seen this somewhere before.”